Archive for ‘Cool Things I want to Share With People’

On Monday July 18th, I was part of a really cool panel hosted by DigitalLA at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood.

The room was jam packed with people and the panel was loaded with really awesome people who were on top of their game in the digital space when it comes to comic books.

It was very Marvel, DC and Indie flavored.

The goal was to discuss how comics and comic book characters are part of an overall entertainment franchise, including animation, games, movies, iPad apps, web series, and promotion via social media. We focused on this and all of the aspects of brand awareness and different variations of media platforms companies and independent creators are using to get their ideas to the masses. Just days before comic con in San Diego it was fun to get together and learn form and meet some amazing new peers who share the same passion for this industry as I do.

The moderator was Kevin Winston of Digital LA @DigitalLA @kevinwinston

It was a great night and I got to be exposed to a lot of great people doing some cool things. So here we go…

1) Devil Inside wecomic rocked. It’s going to be big and the creators, Todd Stashwick and Dennis Calero are doing an amazing job with it. I see this on TV and in my living room with real actors and an awesome new show that doesn’t suck. Fuck Glee, I want me some Devil Inside–which is a story about when the Devil get tired of being the Devil and calls it quits–and goes on the run in human form.

Check it out…I am going to be following these guys for sure!

These guys need and deserve our support.

2) Thomas Jane is a cool dude and Raw Studios is about to kick ass. I was the first introduction and of course dropped an F-Bomb, while Thomas Jane’s daughter was sitting there. She immediately called out, ” $1 – ONE DOLLAR!” It was funny and perfectly timed. And yes I gave her the dollar! I think they are about ready to blow up in a bug way with some new titles and some other fun things. Can’t wait to hear what happens next. My eyes will be on these guys too!

3) Graphic.ly is about to become the leading publisher of digital comics by being super innovative and embracing the fan feedback and transmedia opportunities that await all franchises. They are going to give a hub for the independat creator to compete with and rub elbows with the big dogs like Marvel, DC and more.

The audience was filled with up and coming comic stars and representatives from cool companies like deviantART to Comicbooked.com as well as Disney, Paramount and more. It was a great event and I was honored to be a part of it. David Uslan was an awesome guy and really explained the cool things that graphic.ly was about to do and in the process of doing right now. This company gets it and I’m excited to see where things are heading.

Fifteen years ago, I lost my father to cancer. In my lifetime I have lost both grandfathers and my uncle to cancer as well. When I came up with the concept to honor the memory of Ronnie James Dio, and all that he did for Heavy Metal, it was obvious the best way and most personal way was to honor the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.

To me this is a very serious matter, and an honor for me to be able to have great music accompany my art and writing for my new science fiction comic, Gates, currently presented by cult classic, Heavy Metal Magazine.

So to be serious…I had to “let my hair…up, get a spray tan” and have a little fun.

I am proud to announce a fun new video I wrote, directed and starred in to spark a little fire under the Ronnie James Dio, Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund campaign for our soundtrack.

So what you see before you is an honest and stupid attempt at an Ancient Aliens & Giorgio A. Tsoukalos Spoof Video Promoting the Gates Musical Soundtrack for the webcomic by Hal Hefner in support of the Ronnie James Dio Cancer Fund. This free webcomic is being presented exclusively by Heavy Metal Magazine at http://gatesthecomic.com and being produced entirely by Hal Hefner.

This video stars me, your lovably obnoxious and opinionated, comic artist and writer of the new science fiction comic Gates, Hal Hefner, as Giorgio A. Tsoukalos. Tsoukalos is well known for his high hair, orange spray tan and outlandish deliveries and is the lovable celebrity of the popular History Channel series, Ancient Aliens. As the fun and eccentric ancient alien theorist, Hef (me) uses Giorgio A. Tsoukalos to poke fun at the show ancient aliens, taking a Funny Or Die, Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central like approach to a rather serious show and uses it to promote the musical soundtrack to the webcomic that was launched in August of 2011. The commercial spoofs the ancient hieroglyphs of the Mayans who populated the Yucatan Penninsula,Mexico and built Chichen Itzaand ties it into Ronnie James Dio’s trademark “devil horns” symbol that is prevalent in Heavy Metal still to this day.

Here’s a classic clip of Giorgio A. Tsoukalos delivering a great theoretical discussion on the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens.

The soundtrack to Gates, is dedicated to Ronnie James Dio who was on the original Heavy Metal soundtrack, to the cult classic film, Heavy Metal, in 1981. Dio was the lead singer for Black Sabbath at the time and their song mob rules is an epic track that fit perfectly with the animated movie Heavy Metal.

The soundtrack to Gates is for sale on Amazon & Itunes MP3 and 100% of the proceeds of the sales are being donated to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer fun and are synchronized with the story of Hal Hefner’s new science fiction comic book franchise Gates.

PLEASE BUY IT NOW AND MAKE A DONATION TO THE RONNIE JAMES DIO STAND UP AND SHOUT CANCER FUND

on iTunes and AmazonMP3, benefiting the Ronnie James Dio “Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund.” ALL OF THE PROCEEDS ARE BEING USED TO FIGHT CANCER!

Thank you to Giorgio A. Tsoukalos for being you. You rock and it was an honor for me, “Hal Hefner” to play your likeness in support of a great cause. Best of luck to you and all you do. You are Tsoukalicious!

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud has earned worldwide fame as an innovator and creative genius under the pseudonym Moebius. Back in the 1970’s Moebius was involved in the creation of Metal Hurlant.

Arzak was a psychedelic comic of surreal weirdness with a sci-fi meets spaghetti western twist from the 1970’s, created by Moebius for sci-fi/fantasy comics magazine Metal Hurlant. In the United States, Metal Hurlant became, Heavy Metal Magazine.

Rhapsody is designed and directed by Jean Giraud / Moebius and is co-produced with Wolfland Pictures and the Carrere Group . It is an animated comic that is filled with coolness and is a pleasure to watch. If you love sci-fi comics, this will thrill you and utterly confuse you at times but that’s the best part.

Below you will find the entire collection of Rhapsody videos that were posted on YouTube. They are in Spanish, which actually gives it a very cool feel adding to the allure of this timeless classic. This si the kind of nerd stuff I love to share as this comic and Moebius himself are Huge inspirations on me, heavy Metal Magazine and of course, Gates the epic sci-fi comic I create for Heavy Metal Magazine.

Back in the 1980’s a wonderful animated film came out by the name of Light Years. It didn’t get that much attention but is revered by many today animation experts and sci-fi geeks to this day. It combined the great minds of French animator, Rene Laloux and Isaac Asimov into a visually stunning peace of art that is more relevant today than it was 2o+ years ago.

The movie is wrapped around a riddle that the main character, Sylvain, must answer, “In a thousand years, Gandahar was destroyed, and and all its people massacred. A thousand years ago, Gandahar will be saved, and what can’t be avoided will be.”

The plot is very intense and deals with relevant topics such as war vs. pacifism, the dangers of unchecked scientific experiments and the theory of time travel in relevance to the human mind and soul. It’s stunningly beautiful in artistic expression and just as well written.

The original version was directed by René Laloux, and was based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon‘s novel Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar). An English version of the epic science fiction film was produced by Harvey Weinstein, and renowned science-fiction legend Isaac Asimov made the revision of the translation from French to English.

It has has beautifully drawn women with a slight tint of blue/purple skin color that are naked for most of the film. It’s a masterpeice that will live on for years. It is well known for it’s strange landscapes yet vaguely familiar creatures as well as menacing “men of metal”. The art is well done and if you like science fiction, you’re going to love this film.

Now if we could only get them to release it on DVD!

But until then, we have Youtube, please see below, the 8 part movie of LIGHT YEARS…

Written by Gavin Hignight, The Concrete World is a science fiction comic book, telling the story of three kindred spirits, Felix, Sera and Paulie. They are brought together in a cyberpunk world drawn by up and coming artist, Jettila Lewis. In Hignight’s epic world, these three characters are linked by their addiction to the VR technology called DREAMtech, which is altogether wonderful, powerful…and very dangerous. DREAMtech can give them everything they’ve always desired, but it could also take everything they have, including their very lives!

Felix, Sera and Paulie traipse the forever-night of this neon, smoke filled virtual world in search for the mythical program called the Black Ivory. In this world, freedom is the new drug.

The comic itself is installed in (6 page) updates monthly. It’s a pretty fun read and the art is really cool. It’s definitely one of the best webcomics out there in my opinion. It explores the realities we could be facing in the very near future, in the same vein as Gates, the comic I write and illustrate and is currently being presented online by Heavy Metal Magazine. This is very much a Heavy Metal like comic and I could envision this story in the magazine some day as well.

One of my favorite artists and someone who was a direct inspiration for me in EVERYTHING that I do has passed on to become one with the great consciousness of the universe. French comic-book artist, designer and creative innovator, Jean Giraud, (Moebius), died overnight at the age of 74 after a long illness, an associate and work colleague reported from Paris, France.

Moebius was a legend. An artist yes but at heart Moebius was an amazing storyteller. He used his art to tell stories. Without Moebius, there would be no Heavy Metal. There would be no me.

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was one of the world’s leading cartoonists, artists and thinkers, who also found a large and loyal following in Japan and the United States. Moebius was the modern day Shaman shared his tales of science fiction and fantasy around the international fires of the independent comic book industry.

As well as being published in top French magazines, and being one of the co founders of Metal Hurlant, which in the US became Heavy Metal, Moebius worked with Japanese manga artists and co-produced and illustrated, Marvel’s, The Silver Surfer with Stan Lee.

Giraud also contributed to a number of blockbuster movies all over the world. In the early 80’s he and famous French Animator, Rene Laloux, creator of the movie Fantastic Planet, co-piloted the movie, Time Masters. It was a great film and visually stunning with a very interesting take on time. Laloux is to animation as Moebius is to comics and this pairing was incredible.

Back in 2001, I met Moebius at a screening of Time Masters, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. I actually showed him my tattoo that I have of Fantastic Planet on my arm and he loved it, ” OHHH, I will tell Rene when I get back to France. It is the most beautiful tattoo I have seen of this, Rene will be pleased.” I also discussed my initial concepts for the Gates comic book with him for a second and he encouraged me to keep going and not to ever get discouraged.

Moebius was an inspiration to me…not only because of the work he did, but the work he didn’t do.

There was the ill fated Dune movie by Alejandro Jodorowsky, that Moebius did some amazing character designs for. Below are his conceptions of some of the characters. They are pretty awesome.

In 2010 France’s Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art produced a far out, retrospective of Moebius’ work that was so uniquely designed and constructed that it was a desire of mine to see–but I never did.

But I did meet Moebius and his work has inspired me since I was a teenager.

Below are some links to some articles I’ve written about him over the years.

So you think you’re a NERD. Not the kind of nerd that would hang out with Lamar and Booger and the other Tri-Lams–BUT a REAL Sci-Fi NERD. Whell let’s just how how nerdy you really are. Below is a little checklist of 20 Things Every Sci-Fi Nerd Should Own To Earn, physically as well as emotionally. If you “own” at least twelve of these twenty things, you are entitled to your SCI-FI Nerd Badge.

My name is Hal Hefner, I am a Sci-Fi nerd. I create Sci-Fi nerd dreams with my comic Gates, the flagship product of an epic science fiction franchise. How nerdy are you?

Go for it. I dare ya…

1) Conan The Barbarian Soundtrack:
If you are a fan of the movie, Conan the Barbarian then you know how awesome the soundtrack is as well. Great music by Basil Poledouris set the tone of the movie and is an epic score to kick ass to.

2) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep:
This is the book by Phillip K. Dick that inspired Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner. It’s good, real good and in fills in lots of holes in the movie and also gives you a different twist on it. Great, easy read even for you folks out there who haven’t read a book since college.

3) The Twilight Zone Collection:
The Twilight Zone is one of if not the greatest TV show ever. For any aspiring Sci-Fi geek and or creator, it is essential guide to storytelling, RIP Rod Serling, a genius way ahead of his time.

4) The Original Star Wars Trilogy – WITHOUT ANY ADDED CRAP
We didn’t need Boba Fett and Jabba to show up in the a New Hope. We didn’t need anymore crappy creatures that added no value and we all certainly know: HAN SHOT FIRST.

5) A Profound Hatred for Star Trek Enterprise:
Need I say more? Okay, I will. Brannon Braga’s take on the Star Trek universe was crap.

6) The Lord of The Rings Extended Edition, The Soundtracks and all of the books;
You’ve gotta own it all. Own it. Live it. Love it.

7) A Profound Sadness for the Way Battlestar Galactica Ended:
There’s a lot of us that feel we got hosed with that ending. I can still hear Jim Hendrix’s, All Along the Watchtower playing in my head and I’m thinking WTF is this?

8 ) A Passionately Favorite Version of the REAL Doctor Who:
Tom Baker. Period. And I will gladly meet you in an alley to fight about it.9) A Fear That Will Smith Will Someday Star in The Movie Adaptation of Your Favorite Book:
Every character is the same, that wise cracking boy from Philadelphia living with his cousin Carlton and Uncle Phil.

10) Toys from Your Childhood That You Refuse To Part With:
I still have my original Kermit the Frog from when I was three and my first Boba Fett. Trump that.

11) The Belief that the Word Midichlorian Was Just from a Nightmare and NOT a real Star Wars Movie:
This is just a dream. Metachlorians are not real. Seriously. It’s just a bad joke and it will be over when I wake up. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

12) The Original Tron Movie:
You own it. You love it. It loves you.

13) An affection for the TV show Firefly:
Every Sci-Fi nerd loves this show. If you don’t you are a loser.

14) A Hatred for Chris O’Donnell:
As Robin, he was the harbinger of death for the original Batman movie franchise.

15) You Know Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics:Learn it now if you don’t know it.

16) You think Cheetara is HOT!
The star of two version of Thundercats cartoons was also the star of your wet dream. Admit it, you’d love to let her claw your back and bite your neck. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

17) You Believe Aliens are our REAL Gods:
If you read enough science fiction, and of the right kind, all of those books questioning are existence in the universe, finally open up some possibilities for you. BUT depending on where you live, who your parents are and who you are sleeping with, you may not admit this in public.

18) You Have a Favorite Animated Cult Sci-Fi Movie:
There are so many to pick from. Many will choose Heavy Metal.

19) You Blame Hot Rod for Optimus Prime’s Death:
Well, it was his fault. And after Optimus rose form the grave Rodimus got hosed. AND DESERVEDLY SO!

20) You DESPISE Michael Bay for Masturbating on your Childhood.
The king of explosions, inexplicably keeps making million dollar movies and in the process he has destroyed the Transformers and has now decided to shit on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by making the aliens in his new adaptation. Someone needs to destroy the people at Paramount for allowing him to live. Michael Bay is the fucking anti-Christ.